SUBMISSION OF ARCHITECTURAL, STRUCTURAL, SURVEY AND PLANNING APPLICATION FOR APPROVALS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

To,
The Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Local Government,
Republic of Kenya.
19th December 2011.

Dear Prof. Karega Mutahi CBS,
RE: SUBMISSION OF ARCHITECTURAL, STRUCTURAL, SURVEY AND PLANNING APPLICATION FOR APPROVALS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
We are a registered Architectural and Construction project management firm based in Nairobi.
We have developed a platform to enable Local Authority applications to be done online through www.a4architect.com.
The advantages of using this Online platform are as follows:
1. Local Government Planning Department will be able to comment, advice and engage with Applicants online from the comfort of their offices, mobile phones or any other remote locations securely through www.a4architect.com. This will ease workloads to Planners hence more efficiency.
2. Local Authorities will save on transport costs, time and Human Resource required to initially Physically visit Applicant’s site . This initial visit will be aided by Mapping applications embedded within www.a4architect.com.
3. Local Authorities will be able to raise more Application permit revenues since Applicants will find it more convenient and easy to apply for Building, Structural Engineering, Survey, Change of User permits from the comfort of their homes, phones,cybers and work places. www.a4architect.com will also provide premium services to assist in the application for Applicants who will require to outsource the rigorous Application process.
4. Payment to Local Authorities will be through the usual cash or Mobile Phone PAYBILL system directly to the Local Authority PAYBILL number. This will provide an efficient loss-free environment for payments hence increased revenues.
5. Local Authorities will be able to conveniently follow up and keep track of construction projects through the application period till construction and issuance of Occupation Certificates hence reduce cases of Building Collapse due to un-supervised construction projects.

HOW IT WORKS.
1. Local Authority representatives in various Local Authorities in Kenya will avail their email addresses to be automatically registered on www.a4architect.com as Administrators.
Applicants will log in to www.a4architect.com and register.
Applicants will Add a Post describing the Application permit they seek from the respective Local Authority e.g. Change of User, Painting, renovation, Subdivision of Land, Architectural or Structural approval.
Applicants can mark the application as Private, Password protected or Public.
A private application can only be seen by the Applicant and the Local Authority Administration.
A Password-protected application can only be viewed by the Applicant and the Local Authority Administration.
Public application can be view by anyone with the web link to the application.

2.
A Local Authority representative will then be automatically contacted through email to look at the application and answer the applicant through the platform provided within www.a4architect.com.
The Applicant will be advised on how much money he/she should pay for the application based on the Square area of the proposed building or the number of subdivisions.
U the normal method whereby the Applicant provides hard copies to the Local Authority representatives, Local Authorities loose a lot of revenue since sometimes the Floor Areas are mistakenly calculated downwards and charges are usually based on these floor areas.
Local Authorities also lose a lot of time to measure each individual floor area manually.
With this new method, the Applicant will be able to submit a soft copy version of the drawings in ArchiCAD .pln, AutoCAD .dwg or any other format the drawings are in. The platform is designed to allow all available CAD drawing formats for upload.
After Applicant uploads their drawings, the Local Authority representative can then comfortably download them when time is available and automatically measure the Plinth areas using the built-in CAD applications.
This saves time and reduces the chance of making errors in calculating fees payable for the particular Application.
3.
Once the Applicant receives info on how much to pay, he/she can physically make a payment and attach the receipt using the www.a4architect.com platform or pay through MPESA/Airtel PAYBILL services directly to the Local Authority registered PAYBILL number.
4.
The Application can now begin to be worked on by the various Local Authority representatives Departments. They can simultaneously make comments hence saving time taken during the usual circulation process whereby the drawings are moved physically from one office to the other hence delay, loss ad inefficiencies.
5.
After the Applicant makes the necessary amendment, he/she uploads the amended drawings to the www.a4architect.com platform and if this satisfies the Local Authority, he/she will be issued with an official Approval and the amended drawings stored in both hard copy and soft copy for future reference.
6.
During construction, the Applicant can update the platform on the construction process and when construction is complete, the Local Authority can use the information to issue the Occupation Certificate. This ensures that Applicants keep the Local Authority informed of the construction process hence reducing chances of building collapse.

The Platform is is FREE for use by Local Government and the General Public and is designed to handle all Local Authority offices in Kenya and can run concurrently with the normal hard-copy physical method.
Please feel free to contact us at submissions@a4architect.com or +254721410684 for further information and explanation.

We hope that this platform will assist and benefit all Kenyans to achieve prosperity as laid down in vision 2030.
Yours Faithfully,
Arch. Francis Gichuhi Kamau
B.Arch U.o.N M.A.A.K[A] Regd. Architect number A1085.
info@a4architect.com